Making the Bed
This past Thursday I cleaned out one of my raised beds. I harvested the carrots and cabbage and gave up on the broccoli that was growing in it. The carrots were teeny-tiny, which means I need to add more compost to the bed.
Since I plan on growing some Napoli carrots in this bed for over-wintering, I added several inches of compost and some Dr Earth Starter Fertlizer.
After smoothing out the soil I planting seeds late into the night (until I could no longer see the seeds or the holes in which to put them). So far I have planted 192 carrot seeds and I still have at least twice that many more to plant (I’ll be busy this evening). I’m looking forward to the sweet crunchy carrots this winter. I’m optimistic since this is my first time planting for winter harvest. I’m also growing kale and spinach for the winter. Wish me luck!
Have you planted anything for winter before?
What a lot of carrots!
What temperature do you get down to in Ohio over winter? I have never thought of growing over winter here in the UK – never looked into really. I am going to go and read into now though!
Thanks for the inspiration!
Claire
to Claire's comment
I’m hoping to have enough to last me through the winter (we LOVE carrots!).
We are in zone 5 or 6 depending on which zone map you look at. We get down to between -10 & -20 F. One of the best books for winter growing is “Four Season Harvest” by Elliot Coleman. Check it out, it should give you all the information you need!
to Susy's comment
They look absolutely delicious. Wow. Your soil looks great, too. How long does it take your compost to finish? Mine seems to be taking a long time.
to Joe's comment
My compost takes a while to get finished (I’m too lazy to turn it). I usually harvest the bottom of my piles in the spring and in the fall. One summer I turned mine each week and it make compost really quickly, in a few months.
My soil in the raised beds consists of: 1/3 compost, 1/3 peat moss and 1/3 vermiculite. I’m working on adding rock mineral dust & more compost to add all the little microscopic critters that make soil so great! Hopefully by next year it will be much better (and my carrots will be bigger).
to Susy's comment